The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that the prior art forms part of the common general knowledge.
Multifunction print devices (MFDs) are devices that integrate a number of hard-copy document handling functions, such as facsimile transceiver, scanner, copier and printer, in a single device. MFDs have become commonplace in the modem office environment and find particular application in the so-called “home office” where the need for each function often exists but the workload for each function does not justify a stand-alone or dedicated device.
In a computer network environment, a document may be printed from a personal computer in one location to a printer or MFD at another location. Typically a number of MFDs or printers are provided on the network, thereby allowing the user of the personal computer to select any one of a number of MFDs or printers for performing a printing job. Similar issues also arise for other jobs, such as scanning and copying of documents, in which the document may be provided to a scanner or MFD, with a resulting electronic document being forwarded to the user's computer.
However, in order to use such devices, it is often necessary for the user's computer to be correctly configured with appropriate software. Thus, for example, in the case of printing, the user's computer typically needs an appropriate printer driver to be installed, which is configured for use with the selected printing device. Similarly, in the case of reviewing a scanned document, the user's computer may require software capable of reading the relevant electronic file type.
In the event that the user's computer is not correctly configured, for example if the necessary printer driver is not installed, it is typical for the user to be required to:                1) Search for the correct type of the print driver for a specific device, by for example:                    a) Obtaining the device driver from a CD provided by the printing device or MFD; or            b) Retrieving the device driver from a remote location such as a specific shared directory on the network, or downloading it from the Internet.                        2) Check the version of the device driver to ensure that it is the newest version.        3) Manually install the device driver onto the computer used to initiate the print job.        
These procedures are often time-consuming and troublesome for the user. Over the years, there have been technologies developed for partially automating, or omitting these steps.
For example, plug and play technologies allow the user to omit the step of manually downloading and installing a print driver for a specific printing device that is connected to the user's computer, or newly connected to the network. At the time of connection, the print driver is automatically installed on the user's computer, in either a completely automated fashion, or by prompting the user to enter a list of options required for the installation.
However, this method of automatic installation only applies to the fresh connection of a printing device to the user's computer and once the installation has taken place, triggering the installation of a new print driver installation requires uninstalling then reinstalling the printer.
For printing devices on the network, there are systems that provide transferral of a print driver from a printing device to the user's computer via email or FTP (File Transfer Protocol) upon request from the user. However, in this instance, the user has to first trigger the transfer of the print driver over the network by communicating with the printing device, then the printing device will reply with a message containing the print driver. The user can then choose to install the print driver they received from the said printing device. Print drivers to be distributed and installed can be stored in a remote location on a server to be retrieved and uploaded later, or they can be built-in to the printing device.
A disadvantage of this method is that the user has to know the network address of the printing device, and in many cases the network address of the printing device is not obvious, whereas the physical location of the printing device is more widely known.
The aforementioned methods and technologies can also be applied to automatically updating existing print drivers by retrieving a new version of the print driver from a computer on the network, and distributing it to other computers on the network. However, such a system is cumbersome as the system must first perform a search for the correct driver over the network, then it has to further search for computers that require the new driver. This method of print driver update does not allow any arbitrary user on the network to update only their own print driver on their computer. A further difficulty for users is identifying when to update the print driver on their machine.
A further issue with these forms of operation is that it typically requires user control of the computer in order to effect the installation. However, in the majority of network environments users are assigned limited access privileges, allowing access to network functions to be strictly controlled. In many such situations, installation of print drivers or other software is limited to administrator level privileges, which means that the majority of users are unable to update or install software, even if they are aware of the correct procedure.